Cervélo and some unanswered questions

onFriday, 27 August 2010

What follows is a random collection of points but following the abrupt withdrawal of the team, I wish I was at the team’s press conference this afternoon to put these points:

Why did Brett Lancaster start tweeting about house hunting in Girona in late July? Did he fancy moving to a country where he doesn’t speak the lingo… or had he got wind that Cervélo was pulling out and that he was Garmin-bound?

The UCI rule changes were announced back in June. How come riders weren’t informed until now? Yes it takes time to work out what to do but July and August mark the highpoint of the “transfer season” and some rosters are full, a few riders will either be out of work or bounced into accepting low-ball offers because this decision was delivered quite late.

Did Carlos Sastre’s demands for a contract renewal, and the subsequent rejection by Cervélo, flush out the fact that the team wasn’t going to last?

Even if the rules are changed and the team is caught out, why not honour the contracts and solider on for a year? Yes the team might not get into all the races it wants but for the team that styled itself as “more than just racing”, doing a runner from the pro peloton doesn’t look good.

Why are Slipstream Sports, the guys behind the Garmin-Transitions team, being so quiet? They’ve blocked three new signings, shunting them to the development team (a good team in itself but the trio were deemed ready for the pro ranks yesterday). Is it simply because they are negotiating with Cervélo about the bike deal and possible rider contracts, not to mention interviewing the riders and checking their biopassports are ok?

Finally, is it solely about rules and budgets? I’d like to ask if there’s been anything else in recent months that has given the sponsors any cause for concern?

Jered, it seems Ramunas Navardauskas, Alex Howes and Andrew Talansky are on the Holowesko squad for 2011, they've been told the main team is full. The development team is highly regarded but certainly Navardauskas doesn't need much development, he won U-23 Liege-Bastogne-Liege and he's been the scourge of the French amateur scene.

Oh no, that sucks big time for Talansky (Navardauskas and Howes too). He netted some big results as well this year. He was pretty excited, to say the least, about his three-year deal with Garmin when I interviewed him a couple months ago.

Talansky DID mention he had been in talks with another ProTour team though – I wonder if he can get out of his deal with Garmin then, since they're pushing him off on the devo team. Holowesko is great, but it certainly is not ProTour.